Credit: Imago

Richie Mills

Thu 26 March 2026 17:10, UK

Premier League survival could hinge on poor refereeing mistakes for Leeds United, like the one with Gabriel Gudmundsson against Crystal Palace.

On Thursday, the Premier League’s Key Match Incidents Panel unanimously voted that Gudmundsson should not have received a second booking at Palace on 15 March.

Referee Thomas Bramall penalised the Leeds defender for bringing down Ismaila Sarr in the centre circle shortly before half-time, forgetting the first caution.

It took him nearly 30 seconds to realise the Swede was already on a yellow card, before giving him his marching orders.

Now, the KMI Panel have ruled that the wrong call was made, less than a fortnight after the same group deemed that Leeds should have been given a penalty in their loss to Sunderland.

When there are such fine margins in the battle to stay up, this could have a massive impact on the relegation picture.

Leeds proven right but have little to show for it

Two weeks after Leeds suffered a damaging 1-0 loss to Sunderland on 3 March, the KMI panel ruled that Farke’s team should have been given a penalty after Luke O’Nien held back Pascal Struijk.

They unanimously voted that it was a mistake by referee Stuart Attwell and that Paul Tierney, who was on VAR duty, should have intervened.

Then, in mid-March, another big call went against Leeds. While they had just missed a penalty before Gudmundsson’s dismissal, they looked the more likely to go on to win the game.

Instead, they had to dig in and grind out a draw against a Palace side that didn’t muster a single shot on target on Karl Darlow’s goal.

Leeds sit four points above the relegation zone, but if the right decisions had been made, they could have extended that to at least seven with as many games to go.

While practically every single Premier League side has been the victim of bad refereeing decisions this season, incidents like this could be the difference between generating tens of millions in revenue by staying in the Premier League or losing that amount by dropping into the Championship.

So, where is the accountability? A referee may be stood down from one game to the next after the mistake, but there is nothing tangible Leeds, or any other side, can take from this.

If you have all the cameras and technology at your disposal, decisions like this should be easier.

If it were just down to human error, fans may be able to stomach it easier. VAR chases perfection, but it is, arguably, making referees worse and more reliant on others, and the game becomes less appealing.

Changes to come into effect, but not soon enough for Leeds

After the Palace game, Farke said on the sending off: “Everyone in the stadium can see [it was the wrong decision]. It was doubtful if it was even a foul. For me, it was a clear mistake.”

For the time being, second yellows cannot be reviewed by VAR, so Gudmundsson’s red card had to stay in place, as he missed the Brentford draw.

However, from the 2026-27 season, there will be scope for VAR to send a referee to the pitchside monitor to rescind second bookings that are clearly wrong.

For Leeds, they will have to stew on this apparent injustice for weeks, with their next Premier League game not until 13 April away at bitter rivals Manchester United, who are flying high in third.

On paper, that is a game they should lose, whereas West Ham, who take on Leeds in the FA Cup quarter-finals on 5 April, host Premier League basement team Wolves days later.

If they win that, the Hammers will be within one point of Farke’s side, while 17th-placed Tottenham travel to Sunderland two days later. This looks to be going down to the wire.